"Meantime, despite early reservations, New York state's most powerful legislative leader tells the New York Post he'll support Kennedy," said AP. "State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver says he'll work for her election."

The rumblings of coming confirmation arrive shortly after Kennedy came under for for, like, not, um, interviewing very well.

Kennedy's press interviews -- the first after the scion of America's most famous political dynasty made it known that she was seeking out the New York seat to be vacated when Hillary Clinton is confirmed secretary of state -- drew ridicule from pundits, newspapers and bloggers.

"Caroline's, um, no whiz with words," said the New York Daily News -- one of the kinder cuts in a stream of skewerings in US media and political blogs since her interviews with New York newspapers and television outlets."

They singled out her propensity for riddling her answers with words such as um, like and you know.

"A strange thing is happening on the way to the coronation," a columnist wrote in the Daily News. "The wheels of the bandwagon are coming off."

Before announcing herself as a candidate for Sen. Hillary Clinton's Senate seat, Kennedy led the Obama campaign's search for a running mate.